Andrew doing his candles.... 

This is the boys making their own candles @ the Yankee Candle place. At the other end of this star was a flag that Marc did in red,white, & blue stripes. Joey & Andrew did rainbow taper candles. Very fun & very CHEAP!!! :) 

A few more from vacation 

And here�s the clock when it opens & does the �Hickory Dickory Dock� thing. Charlie was pretty fascinated at first because of the music & all the moving things.

We went back to the Yankee Candle place tonight & took ALL the kids this time. This is the scene when you first walk in - it's like a Main Street w/shops on the sides & then the fountain & "town clock" straight ahead. But check out the ceiling which is the coolest thing in this picture. It's made to look like the sky on a beautiful day!!

Last one for the night. This is for all you Yankee Candle fans. My husband found the ad for this & insisted on taking me there! What a guy!!! :) Seriously, it's VERY cool inside. We only took Joey on this trip, but we're going back w/the big boys because it was so neat.......and because I didn't buy anything.....YET!!! :)

And Joey (who could care less about the scores) poses for a shot w/Blackbeard himself!!!

And of course, Andrew jumps right in there to be sure he gets it right!!!

Marc had no time for pictures. He was busy adding up the scores!!! That's my Marc!!!

THAT'S how you do it Charlie!!! :)

At the end of a great round of putt putt (yes, the obligatory trip to Pirate's Cove), we had to stop for some pictures.... I think Andrew is doing some kind of pirate symbol or something.

Last one.....just HAD to post the close up. There's nothing like a sleeping, sweet baby, huh??? Love you Charlie!!!!

Charlie's nap got skipped today in favor of the pool & this is where we found him @ dinner time. Good thing we weren't planning to eat out tonight!! As it turned out, we had a nice, PEACEFUL, yummy, steak dinner @ "home" w/o our favorite little toddler..... :)

VACATION!!! It's a beautiful day out & what do you suppose the boys want to do??? "But we don't have PS2 @ home!!!!" Okay, we did manage to tear them away for a few hours @ the pool. And it has been nice to have a little diversion when we're inside!!! :)

Cute picture of Joey & Scott from last month. Thanks again for a FUN weekend Andersons!!!! :)

And as the "toddler/pre-terrible twos" stage continues........ TODAY Charlie decided to give new meaning to the term "shampoo the carpet". The boys were completely out of shampoo, so I bought 3 new bottles today of cool, fun scents that allow me to verify by smell that they actually WASHED their hair & didn't just get it wet in the shower. Anyway, as I sat looking through Marc's homeschool books (which just came today), feeling nostalgic since most of the books haven't changed since I used A Beka curriculum in 5th grade, I began to smell this tropical/fruity smell drifting down the stairs. That combined w/no sounds from Charlie anywhere on the main floor of the house made me wonder what was going on upstairs. Yes, Charlie decided the carpet in the upstairs hallway needed cleaned & since it's so OLD, it needs the WHOLE, FULL bottle of tropical/fruity smelling shampoo.....ugh!!!! What a mess!! So anyone have any ideas how to get an entire bottle of shampoo OUT of carpet??? I love you Charlie!!!! :(

Can I just say that I REALLY love this "toddler/pre-terrible twos" stage??? This was Charlie yesterday after deciding that he needed to try on every pair of goggles we own. He walked around like this for at least an hour.

Can ya tell he REALLY likes cheese pizza???

And I'll finish tonight w/my sweet Joey. I LOVE this picture. Everyone always says how much Joey looks like Norm, but I almost see a little bit of mom in this face (especially around the eyes!)......and I think there's a little glimpse in there of a grown up Joey.

And after Marc's much needed NAP, he did a great job pitching that evening. "Thanks Mom & Dad!!!" hmmmmmm....I don't think we heard those words.

Sorry, boys, but this was an "I told you so" moment for Mom & Dad & we couldn't resist the pictures. Marc & Andrew desparately wanted to ride to the next game & hang out with their teammates, but we INSISTED (much to their chagrin) that they stay w/us & REST!!! They had been up late the previous night & early that morning & it was HOT! Plus, we're so MEAN!!!! :) Anyway, they both kept telling us, "We're NOT tired, we're NOT tired." HA! This was how tired they were NOT - after about 5 minutes on the road!

And, well, you know, the baseball was fun & all......but Andrew would much rather hang out w/the girls!!! :) These are the older sisters (& mom in the back) of a teammate. Norm told him to go over & ask 'em for their digits. Obediently, he went over, asked for the "digits", & then added, "It's for my dad!" He had NO idea what digits were - it was hilarious.

Can't see him real well, but that's Marc almost tagging the runner out @ 2nd base on a steal. Nice stop, Marc!!!

Found some pics I forgot I had! :) Just a few from our FUN trip to Knoxville, TN for a baseball tournament the first weekend in June. It was especially nice for me because Joey & Charlie stayed in Columbus w/friends & I got to SIT & WATCH EVERY GAME!!!!! :) This was Andrew doing a GREAT job pitching....

This is just for Marc who was telling me at the airport that I never take pictures of just him. Good one coming from a "first born", huh?? Anyway, I do love this picture. :)

And the obligatory "Family Picture".... :) What a crew we have! Can you tell we are SO much more relaxed because we're going to the airport & not into the car for a LOOOOOOONG drive!!! :)

Okay, finally the last of the vacation pictures. I HAD to post this one because this is the boys FAVORITE part of the Beach Club we go to - Barry!!!! Barry is the Activities Director & he was there when we went to Vistana in October. We were really hoping he hadn't gotten a new job since then, so everyone was thrilled to see him again!!! Anyway, Barry did LOTS of stuff w/the boys during the week & helped make vacation memorable once again.

For those who see Joey's talk back postings, this is what "joey dolphin" looks like. Today was the most beautiful day we've had & he swam nearly the entire day!!! :)

Actually, they were just crashing waves.....and I think they're much cuter than any Baywatch babes!!!! :)

Look's like a scene straight out of Baywatch, doesn't it???? The Baywatch Boys rush in the raging water to save a poor, drowning soul!!! hahahaha

My eleven yr old, Marc --- still can't believe he's that old. :(

When we first got there, Charlie was more interested in taking a walk w/his friend, Emma (from the beach club) than he was w/looking at the fish. At least he's got good taste --- she's pretty cute, huh???? :)

Charlie's turn!! He almost climbed right through the hole. Silly boy.

Andrew doesn't look real excited, but he actually asked Norm to take this picture. Check out Charlie on the side laughing at him....... :)

This was from our trip to the Florida Oceanographic Society on Tuesday. Joey is feeding the stingray here & he was the only one of my kids brave enough to do this!!!

I know the idea is NOT to have a big storm when in Florida, but this was pretty cool. I think this is what we got of Alberto. It blew thru yesterday about 3:30pm. At one point the rain was blowing so hard that we couldn't even see past the shoreline........and it was over in about 20 minutes........and it was HOT & SUNNY today.....so no harm done. Just a very cool sight to see. :)

Okay, Heather - just for you. Sending e-mail is a little harder down here, so I'm posting this but it should be hidden down below some other pics by the time I get done here. This is the (almost) 23 week belly. Can't wait, can you??? :)

And Andrew catchin' a wave. They've learned how to use the boogie board & LOVE it. Go Hammer!

Marc being silly in the pool. I know it's not much of a picture, but he's awfully cute, isn't he??? :)

Joey doing what Joey does best @ Vistana's Beach Club - meet new people!!! By the end of the week, he'll know everyone worth knowin' here. And they'll ALL know him too. I said to someone today at the baby pool, "Oh I have a 5 year old little boy named Joey" (I was talking to a 5 year old little girl). She immediately told me, "Oh, I know Joey. He's 5 too, but he'll be 6 in October!" She & her mom had "met" Joey a little while earlier in the hot tub!!!

Charlie just after his nap today. Can you see his "pink eye"??? Joey got it the day before we left Columbus, so we got enough medicine in case it passed on to someone else. Good thing cuz Charlie's eye started goopin' up yesterday!!! :( He actually likes getting the drops & just says, "Eye? Eye?"

No storm has hit here yet & the last report I saw showed it moving north of us. It's been a little cloudy yesterday & today, but it's still the BEACH!!!!!! Temps are good (in the 80's) & the water is still pretty warm. I'll post more pics later w/the kids. They're having a blast!!!!

Okay, the REST of the story.....This is the entire student body of Harrisburg Elementary surrounding this beloved teacher for one last "Sing-A-Long". It was so neat - the kids sang enthusiastically, the parents snapped photos, & the staff cried. As I said before, it was a GREAT way to end the year. We'll miss you Mr. Davis!!!!!

This was the absolute BEST way to end this Awards Ceremony today. The man in the middle (he's actually playing the piano) is Mr. Davis. Mr. Davis has been @ Harrisburg Elementary for 29 years & is retiring. He's been teaching 1st grade there for many years, but he has also accompanied & organized MANY, MANY school programs. The kids LOVE him. Everyone was sad & LOTS of tears were shed this morning. (Okay, yes I shed a few too.)

And my less affectionate (but not any less sweet) older son, Marc. I was impressed that he put ONE arm around his teacher. Good job, Marc. I know she appreciated it! :)

I wasn't even the least bit emotional until Andrew's teacher started CRYING!!!! She has had this class for 2 years now & was really sad about seeing them move up. She told them when she started passing out the certificates that she was a "hugger" not a "hand shaker". It was funny to see which of the kids were equally affectionate. I think Andrew kind of surprised her because he just went up & wrapped his arms around her & gave her a big hug - it was so sweet. :)

Here's Andrew's class cleaning up today. He had a GREAT year in 3rd grade. But I can't believe he's a 4th grader now!!!! Am I getting too sentimental???

LAST DAY OF SCHOOL!!!!!! :) Can you read the date on these shirts????? This is Marc's class (obviously) & these are the shirts we had made for them as part of their 4th Grade Party (that we had @ the Stites back in April). They all wore them today & signed each others. Several of us parents had a hard time thinking about them graduating in 2014, but it's not really that far away!!! :( :(